1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming machine such as a slot machine.
2. Related Art
Basically, gaming machines installed in an amusement facility such as a casino that is open 24 hours a day operate 24 hours without downtime, except for maintenance work. Therefore, such gaming machines are likely to be at high risk for attempts at tampering with components installed inside the cabinet, CPU and a control board, for example. In order to prevent such attempts, it is preferable to protect the components with the highest care, which play the most important roles for normal operation of a gaming machine, the CPU, the control board, and a memory to store gaming information, for example.
U.S. Patent Applications, First Publication Nos. 2006/0240888, 2006/0247004, and 2006/0247005 disclose gaming machines that have protection against the attempts described above. These gaming machines, which have a memory card storing gaming information that is attachable and detachable from a gaming board, perform authentication for the gaming information so as to prevent the dishonest attempts described above. More specifically, the gaming machine authenticates the memory card by a main CPU provided on a motherboard, upon turning on of a main power supply. It is only if the authentication of the memory card is successful that the gaming machine starts a game. In this way, the gaming machine can prevent dishonest acts with removal of the memory card storing the gaming information, followed by duplication and dishonest alteration of the gaming information, for example.
However, the gaming machine installed in the casino that is open 24 hours a day may encounter an accident where a main power supply of the gaming machine is turned off due to a blackout or a malfunction of the gaming machine, for example. The gaming machines disclosed in the U.S. Patent Applications described above require the main power supply to be in an ON state in order to activate software for authenticating the memory card. That is, such gaming machines cannot authenticate the memory card or perform acquisition and recording of logs relating to removal and insertion of the memory card while the main power supply is in an OFF state.
When a dishonest act is performed, which is accompanied by removal of the memory card while the main power supply is in an OFF state, it is feared that it takes much time and effort to specify the contents and location of the dishonest act. Since the gaming machine installed in the casino that is open 24 hours a day is at high risk for the dishonest acts, it is preferable that the security of the gaming machine is maintained even though the power supply of the gaming machine is in an OFF state.